


Friends Will Be Friends

by WyckedWrytes



Series: Heading For The Light [3]
Category: IT (1990)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Insecurity, M/M, Making Out, Nightmares, Soft Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyckedWrytes/pseuds/WyckedWrytes
Summary: “What if Stan doesn’t like me?”He doesn’t even realize he’s asked the question out loud before he feels Eddie’s hand grabbing his right one, still tight on the steering wheel and giving it a good, strong squeeze.“Don’t be silly, Rich.Everybodylikes you”, Eddie says and sounds so sure, like there’s no question about it, and Richie turns to look at him and Eddie looks so sure, too.orRichie and Eddie pay a visit to Stan and Patty on their way to LA after the events of Derry.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Heading For The Light [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984915
Comments: 14
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There's actually very little plot to this, I simply just wanted to write something featuring Stan and Patty because Stan _lives_ , alright. Also this became way longer than I ever intended hence why I had to split it into two chapters. The fic is finished already and the next chapter will be uploaded in a few days or so, so you can read this without worrying about whether or not I'll be updating and when.
> 
> The "blood and violence" mentioned in the tags is purely there because of Richie's nightmares in chapter 1. It's only mentioned when he talks about the contents of his nightmare and I don't think it's that explicit - but I thought I'd warn about it anyway. But no one actually gets hurt at all in this part, no worries!
> 
> Can be read as a standalone piece (I think), even though this is part of a series.

Richie parks the car on the street surrounded by nice family houses, all perfectly normal and ordinary looking, but also very lovely, looking very welcoming, something that he might’ve imagined Stan living in if he’d ever come to think of it properly, really, before today. He turns off the engine and let’s his hands rest on the steering wheel and he can see them shaking and so he grips the wheel tighter, to feel calmer, to stop the shaking before it gets worse. He can’t help his nerves, though. He doesn’t feel nowhere near of a breakdown like he’d felt on his way to Derry couple weeks earlier… but he doesn’t feel great either.

On the passenger’s seat next to him Eddie looks nervous too. He’s fiddling with the road map he’d been in the charge of reading and which he’s now neatly folded again, and he’s biting his lower lip and glancing towards the house they just parked the nearest to.

Stan’s house.

They had called Stanley’s number two days ago, not knowing exactly what to expect, whether Stan would even want to hear from them, whether he’d be upset or happy or what. But Stan was one of them, he was one of the Losers and that was something that wouldn’t change, and most importantly Stan was _alive_ when he should’ve been dead, he was given another chance just like the rest of them, and surely now that they all had their memories back for good they should use that as a gift.

If it hadn’t been for the stupid clown magic and Richie had been able to actually remember Stan before, he was sure he would’ve missed him almost as much as he would’ve missed Eddie. Stan had been his best, his _closest_ , friend when they were children, before the Losers Club came to be, and even after that Stan had been the voice of reason, the calming presence always there by his side.

And they had nearly lost Stan entirely before they ever got to meet him again as adults. But they hadn’t.

And now they are here, sitting in a rental car outside his house, Richie and Eddie, because when they had called Stan and first talked with Stan’s wife ( _“_ _oh,_ _just call me Patty”_ ) who had answered the phone, and then Stan the Man himself, it had become very clear, very soon, that they would not be going to LA before they’d made a detour and visited the Uris residence in Atlanta, Georgia, first. Stan had sounded happy, hearing from them, his voice going soft and choked, and both Richie and Eddie had pretended not to notice it, though Eddie had become a bit teary eyed as well and Richie had felt quite emotional himself.

So, why then, considering how much they do want to meet both Stan and his wife and how much Stan seems to want to meet them, are they just sitting here, feeling nervous and fidgety? ‘ _Get a grip of yourself, Tozier’,_ Richie tells himself in his mind. ‘ _It’s just good old Stan the Man, nothing to be afraid of here.’_ But he is afraid, for some stupid reason, because what if Stan doesn’t like the man Richie has become, what if his oldest friend takes one look at him and doesn’t recognize the boy he once was, because so much has changed and not all for the best. Richie hates not being liked. All his childhood he was disliked by everyone else except for his family and the rest of the Losers, and while he’s now a lot older, that fear of rejection has never really went away.

“What if Stan doesn’t like me?”

He doesn’t even realize he’s asked the question out loud before he feels Eddie’s hand grabbing his right one, still tight on the steering wheel and giving it a good, strong squeeze.

“Don’t be silly, Rich. _Everybody_ likes you”, Eddie says and sounds so sure, like there’s no question about it, and Richie turns to look at him and Eddie _looks_ so sure, too. There’s nothing hesitant about the look in his deep, brown eyes and the way he regards Richie.

“Right”, he lets out a choked little laugh. “Everybody likes the Trashmouth. Sure.”

“Well, maybe not _everybody,_ then”, Eddie says. “But everyone who _matters_ does. I like you plenty, and so do Mike and Bill and Ben and Beverly. Why wouldn’t Stan? Stan and you were always so close when we were kids.”

“Yeah, but that’s just it. It was forever ago. Sure he liked me then, but what about now?” Richie sighs, finally letting go of the steering wheel and then taking Eddie’s hand properly into his own, pulling it into his lap. “It’s just… none of us are the same people anymore. And I’m not so sure… if I am the best version of myself I could’ve become. I don’t even think I’m the second best version, or perhaps even the third best.”

He has never admitted that much out loud before. Sure, he had thought about it… countless of times, in fact. When he’d been lying in bed, alone, between his series of failed marriages, or lying next to one of his many hookups that meant nothing to him except a moment of company so he wouldn’t have to feel so hopelessly alone all the time, or every time when he’d cracked a stupid joke or used one of his Voices instead of saying something that actually mattered… He had been thinking about it then.

Was this what Richie of his past would’ve wanted for his adult self? Would the child he had once been be proud of who he was now? Even when he couldn’t remember much of his childhood – _and why is that?_ he had sometimes briefly wondered, only to dismiss the thought soon again – he was somehow certain that his younger self wouldn’t have much liked the man Richie had become.

And now that he does remember, and still keeps regaining new memories he’d thought lost forever, he is even more certain of that. He has made some bad choices, done some stupid things, he has lived fast and sure he has made lots of money and a name for himself, but god, at what cost?

And now… Now, he is trying to make a change. He has his memories now. He has _Eddie_ now. With Eddie by his side he can make that change. But he is only just beginning his “new life”, and Stan… Stan has his life in order.

Well, if you ignore the little thing where he had taken his own life and… somehow risen up from the dead anyway, hell if Richie knows how that’s possible, if _anyone_ knows, but anyway, if you ignore that, because Richie can’t fault Stan for his actions, he really can’t, Stan seems to be the one Loser who has been able to live a normal, pleasant, truly happy life. And someone with that kind of a normal, pleasant and truly happy life might take one look at his childhood friend Richie Tozier as he is now and see a man who is a shell of what he could’ve been and be disappointed, and Richie wants so much to be liked. He couldn’t take it if the people he had held the most dearest in his childhood didn’t like him.

“Richie. Surely you don’t really think that way about yourself?” Eddie asks him softly, but the look on Richie’s face must tell him the truth, because Eddie’s eyes become very sad very suddenly and Richie feels Eddie’s grip on his hand tightening significantly.

“Sorry, Spaghetti Man. It’s just me acting all ridiculous. Don’t mind me.”

And he’s doing it again, what he always does and what he’s going to have to learn how to not do sometime soon, but not yet, not today. He’s avoiding talking about his feelings seriously, trying to downplay how he’s really feeling, but it’s what he’s always done and it’s what comes naturally for him, and he doesn’t want to make Eddie worry about him, because Eddie seems worried about their visit already himself as it is. So Richie turns the conversation around and instead asks him: “You seem a bit nervous too yourself, is there a reason for that?”

“Oh, I… I am just…” Eddie hesitates, bites his lip. “Well… You said it yourself, Rich. What if Stan doesn’t like _me?”_

Richie looks at him, really looks at him, and he feels so much fondness and love towards Eddie in that very moment that it’s almost unreal, but he also can’t not think about how similar the two of them are in some ways. In their insecurities, for one. But maybe that’s good. Because that means they can help each other out.

It’s Richie’s turn to squeeze Eddie’s hand tighter now and he does, he rubs his thumb soothingly against the back of his hand, and then he returns Eddie’s own earlier words at him.

“Don’t be silly, Eds. Everybody likes you.” Eddie lets out a tiny, nervous laugh.

“I see what you’re doing Richie”, he says. “But thank you.”

“Everybody really does, though”, Richie says. “I mean it. Stan will like you as well, I know he will.”

“Even if I’m clearly not the best version of myself that I could be?” Eddie questions. “Richie, I’m forty and I _literally_ still lived with my mother until only few days ago.” And alright, this simply won’t stand. Richie won’t stand this kind of nonsense, not from his loved one, not when he talks that way about himself. No one is allowed to talk shit about his Eddie, _including_ Eddie, not if Richie has anything to say about that.

“Uh, first of all, _your mother_ lived with _you_ , you bought it, it was _your_ house. Still technically is, since the paperwork still needs to be completed and all. Second, no version of you could _ever_ be worth not liking. Stan will like you. In fact, he will love you. And so will his wife, lovely Patty. I’m sure you’ll charm them both immediately and then I will have no choice but to fight for your attention! There’s two of them and only one of poor old me, so that’s an unfair fight, but I will, oh but I will fight!”

“Beep beep Richie”, Eddie exclaims but by now he’s smiling wide and when Richie reaches out to ruffle his curls he actually bursts into giggles, which is exactly the kind of reaction Richie was aiming for. When Eddie’s giggles die down after a moment he looks visibly relaxed and Richie actually feels way more relaxed himself as well.

“Alright. Are you ready to meet Stan? Or do I need to lay down some more facts about how irresistible you are?”

“Please don't”, Eddie tells him, but he’s still smiling. “Yes, I guess I am ready. Are you?”

“Sure am now. Needed to freak out a bit at first but I’m fine. You’re with me so I’m fine.”

And without Eddie Richie surely would be even more nervous to face his old childhood friend after all these years again, with all his insecurities weighing down on him, and yes, of course he is nervous still, but Eddie did make him feel a bit better with his kind words earlier. Even if Richie doesn’t really believe those words to be entirely true, because he _isn’t_ the best version of himself and he isn’t as likable as Eddie seems to think, hell, he knows plenty of people who don’t in fact like him at all, but Eddie likes him and the rest of the Losers do like him, and Stanley Uris is a Loser too.

And Richie is fine.

“Well, let’s get going then” Eddie says, opens the door and gets out. Richie quickly follows him and only stops to get the bottle of wine they bought earlier to bring as a gift from the back seat, and not soon after they’re standing at the front door of the beautiful house belonging to their childhood friend and Eddie presses the doorbell button, and then they wait.

They don’t need to wait for long at all before the door opens and they’re face to face with Stan, looking slightly nervous himself for a second or two, before a huge grin takes over his face and before either Richie or Eddie have time to open their mouths in greeting, Richie is being pulled into a tight, almost crushing hug. He simply yelps in surprise but gladly accepts the hug, giving one back, and then when Stan pulls away a while later, Richie’s mouth takes over, as always: “Go easier on Eddie, Stan the Man, he’s really not up for a bear wrestling match with the state his ribs are in. I very nearly feared for my life there, and I’m in peak condition!”

“I see nothing much has changed since the sixties, Trashmouth”, Stan says, still grinning. “Well. Except I guess you got taller. A lot taller, actually. And there’s the mustache, of course.”

“I could say the same about you. What happened? You saw me on TV and wanted to try and look as cool as me?”

“You wish.” But it’s said fondly, and when Stan turns his full attention to Eddie he is a lot gentler with him than he was with Richie, being mindful of his injuries. “Eddie. You look good.”

“You as well, Stan. It’s so good to see you.”

“Yeah, man. It really is”, Richie tells him as well, because it’s true and if things had gone differently back in Derry, they might’ve never been able to see Stanley again and that is something he really doesn’t want to think too hard about.

Memory of the vision Pennywise showed all of them, of Stan’s severed head in the fridge, suddenly surfaces in Richie’s mind but he quickly disposes of it. That hadn’t really been Stan at all, that had been nothing but trickery, and he doesn’t want to think about it, _won’t_ think about it. He hopes his face doesn’t betray any of the turmoil going through in his mind when the three of them share a moment there on the doorstep, and maybe it doesn’t, or maybe Stan pretends not to notice, but he looks only happy and excited about them being there when he says: “It’s so good to see both of you as well, it really is. Now, why are we all still standing here? Come on in. Come meet Patty. She’s so excited to meet you guys too, you won’t believe.”

Patty turns out to be a really lovely lady in every way, not that it really surprises Richie at all because of course Stan, sensible and proper as he is, wouldn’t marry anyone who wasn’t. She smiles a lot and laughs a lot and has the same kind of dry humor Stan does which is just great, and while she’s chatty and likes to ask a lot of questions, she doesn’t do it in the way of someone who’s only looking for gossip but because she’s genuinely interested in hearing the answers.

At first all the questions make Richie a bit wary, and Eddie too, Richie can tell, because especially when talking about their childhood in Derry there is always the subject of It to consider… But quite soon Stan notices the way they’re trying to avoid saying certain things and speaks up, setting them both at ease. Because apparently Patty knows _everything_ , about Derry and about _It_ , because after Stan miraculously woke up from the dead with all his memories from childhood intact, he had told his wife everything.

And Patty, truly a remarkable woman, had believed him.

“How?” Eddie is the one who asks the question when Richie is still trying to process this new information. “How could you just accept something that sounds so… _crazy?_ Even I had trouble believing any of that when I returned to Derry and started getting my memories back, and I actually lived through it.”

“Yeah, and even with all three of us here now saying that shit really happened, you might just think ‘oh, they had some sort of mass hallucination about a clown’ and honestly, even that explanation does sound more probable than what actually really happened”, Richie points out.

Patty just shakes her head before speaking.

“My Stanley is alive when he should be dead”, she says. “He _was_ dead. I found him and I called 911. I must’ve called, though I don’t really remember calling, I was in too much of a shock I think… But I do remember how he was taken away in a body bag, because he was dead and there was nothing to be done to change that”, Patty stops to take in a deep breath and she sniffs a little and for a moment Richie is sure she’s going to start really crying, but she quickly composes herself and Stan reaches for her hand and she takes it before speaking again, with a slight tremble in her voice. “But he came back to life, and I don’t know how and neither does Stan, he doesn’t remember anything about the time he was dead, but he died. And then he came back to life when you and the rest of your friends… killed _It_ , for real this time. Also, even if it weren’t for that, I know Stan would never lie to me.”

She looks at her husband very gently at these words and Stan gives her a little smile. Richie thinks the two of them still kind of look like they’re at the early stages of infatuation instead of being married for several years already. “Besides… Stan always somehow just _knew_ things he shouldn’t have known. You could maybe just say he had an awfully good luck but after hearing you talk about your lives as they are now -”

“- it looks like all the rest of us got that same luck as well…” Richie finishes her sentence, because that is the one thing they all had in common, besides losing their memories. They all had become incredibly successful financially, except for Mike who had remained in Derry. “We didn’t remember our childhoods in that horrible town, but we all somehow made the right decisions and were at the right places at the right time. Yeah.”

“Exactly”, Patty says. “And I never questioned Stan about his decisions and I am not questioning him – or you, either – about the story of an evil killer clown, because as crazy as that sounds, I know it to be the truth.”

“You would’ve made a great Loser”, Eddie says softly, smiling at Patty, and Richie couldn't really agree more. Patty just laughs.

“Oh, I was a loser when growing up, trust me”, she says easily. “I really was, there was never any doubt about that.”

“No, we’re talking about a Loser with a capital L, darling”, Richie says, grinning. “Makes all the difference. You would’ve fit right in our little group though, only the good kind got in. We should make you an honorary Loser, I think. You were not part of the original Losers Club but you are definitely one of us.”

Eddie readily agrees with him and Stan just laughs at their enthusiasm but in the end they all agree that yes, Patricia Uris is definitely a Loser just like the rest of them, and then the conversation turns into some lighter topics again. But there is no awkwardness left between any of them, not like there was in the beginning because of It, and the rest of the day goes by in easy camaraderie and Richie feels kind of stupid for ever being worried about meeting Stan in the first place.

The conversation is easy between them, just like it had been between the rest of the Losers back in Derry earlier, it’s like no time has passed at all because there is still the warmth and connection, and Patty fits right in their little dynamic as if she’d always been one of them. Spending time together like this, joking around and laughing and preparing dinner together and then sharing the meal and the bottle of wine that they brought (and then another from Stan and Patty’s own collection) between them, it’s all so nice and natural and domestic and they all have a lovely time.

Stan laughs more than Richie remembers him laughing as a child, but he thinks that has probably something to do with Patty because her bubbling laughter is very contagious and she laughs a lot. Richie tries some of his Voices on her and Stan, and turns out they’re already familiar with some of them because they’ve actually watched his comedy, both _before_ Stan got his memories back and _after_ , and boy, isn’t that something. Richie laughs in triumph when Stan even has to grudgingly admit that Richie’s Voices aren’t all the same anymore like they were when they were kids. It’s great, all this laughter and feeling of belonging.

Richie leans casually against Eddie on the couch, glancing at his smiling, content face and Eddie answers his gaze with a soft, fond look in his eyes, before turning back towards Stan who’s just asked something, and Richie thinks about how nice it would be if their life could be like this in the future too. Meeting regularly with friends, _real friends_ , not just colleagues and acquaintances or other people who don’t really matter to him . Richie’s never really had that before, not even with his many wives, because Richie didn’t have any real _close_ friends and the friends of his wives never became that close to him either. But he wants something like that, with Eddie by his side.

The thing is… they haven’t even told Stan and Patty what’s the whole deal between them. They do know Eddie nearly died at It’s lair, and they know Eddie had nothing to really hold him back at New York and that he’s going to be living with Richie once they reach LA, but they haven’t once acted like there’s more between them than simple friendship, and sure they have been kind of touchy-feely with each other this whole day, but they always were even as children. Stan thought nothing of it back then either, and he hasn’t looked at them weird because of all their casual touching of each other once. Neither has Patty. And Richie wonders.

He wants to tell them. He wants to tell them about him and Eddie so much, because Eddie is the best thing in his life and he wants to share his happiness. Because Stan had looked kind of sad when Richie’s past marriages had come up briefly earlier, and that had felt… not good. Richie wants Stan to know he is happy now, that he’s found love and not simply something disguised as love, something fleeting and fickle.

But they’ve not discussed about telling Stan before their arrival here. Also, what if Stan looks at them differently after learning the truth? What if Patty does? And that thought is enough to make Richie reconsider his want to tell them, and decide to bury that want for the time being. Not today. Not this time. Maybe when they meet again next time. Because there will be a next time. Richie has no intention of not keeping in touch with all his friends, now that he has them, again.

They had planned to leave and find a motel somewhere close by that evening – staying the night at Stan and Patty’s hadn’t really even crossed their minds, they’d not wanted to assume or make it awkward in case the worst case scenario happened and they didn’t get along after all – but when they start talking about leaving that night it becomes very clear very soon that there’s no arguing with the Uris couple. Richie and Eddie _will_ stay for the night, and that’s that. So they go and fetch their overnight things from the car and by the time they get back, Patty and Stan have prepared them both their own rooms, one of which looks more like a guest room than the other, which apparently doubles as some kind of a craft room for Patty.

The rooms are right next to each other so it’s not like Eddie will be far away from Richie, but he is dreading the night spent alone in an unfamiliar room all the same. Last time they were supposed to sleep separately he didn’t get a wink of sleep before Eddie came to his door and climbed into bed with him soon after, and since then they’ve slept sharing a bed each night and not just a room. Sure, it has been only a couple nights, but it doesn’t change the fact that Richie doesn’t feel comfortable being too far away from Eddie. What happened in Derry is still way too fresh in his mind and he doesn’t like being separated from him at all.

But the only way they could share a room here would be to share a bed too, and they’ve not told the truth about them to their hosts and so they can’t. Can they? No. No, surely not. It is too late now anyway, they should’ve told before they prepared these rooms for them, now it would just seem ungrateful to demand to sleep in just one room, and also what if they don’t _want_ them to share a bed in their house? Sharing simply a room would be different, but sharing a bed is quite another matter. Richie doesn’t want to think about the possibility of Stan and Patty’s hospitality ending there. He knows that the possibility isn’t probably very big – but it’s a possibility nevertheless.

Eventually they say good night to Stan and Patty and then Richie makes his way to the guest bathroom to brush his teeth, and Eddie soon joins him, already clad in his stripy flannel pajamas and looking as adorable as always. They brush their teeth in silence but keep looking into each other’s eyes in the mirror and when they both have minty breaths, Eddie leans close and presses a gentle kiss to Richie’s lips. His lips feel so soft and nice against his and all he wants is to kiss Eddie some more, but it is not the time or the place for it, not really, so Richie lets him pull away after a while even though he doesn’t want to.

“I’m going to miss you, sleeping in that other room, Spaghetti Man”, he murmurs and gently caresses Eddie’s cheek, giving him a sad little smile. “But I guess we’ll manage. It’s just one night, after all.”

“Right”, Eddie agrees quietly, biting his lower lip, looking at him thoughtfully. “I’ll miss you too. I was thinking, earlier today… Maybe we could’ve told them, about us. I think they might’ve taken it well. I mean, it’s Stan. And Patty is really wonderful, I like her a lot, so I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind us, being together... But… I know it’s so soon. And we didn’t discuss it, before we came here. But… Well. It’s no matter, anyway. But it’d be nice to share a room with you. Do you think they would’ve been okay with it if they knew?”

Richie pulls Eddie close to him, embracing him, breathes in the scent of his hair and savors the feeling of his warm body so close and he thinks _‘I hope so, I hope so with all that I have because if they wouldn’t be okay with that I don’t know what I’_ _d_ _do…’_ But he doesn’t say it out loud, instead he murmurs softly into Eddie’s hair: “Like you said, it’s Stan. And Patty is a remarkable woman. So I think they would be okay with it, with us. But of course I can’t be one hundred percent sure.”

They separate and Richie gives Eddie one last quick little peck on the lips because this is still really not the time or the place, and then he opens the bathroom door and steps out. Eddie gives him a longing look from the bathroom where he’s now left clutching at his medicine bag, the one that he always carries with him to the bathroom each morning and each evening and the extent of which contents Richie doesn’t really know, but he’s also not about to inquire and make Eddie uncomfortable. Richie smiles and says softly: “Good night, Eddie Spaghetti.” An eye roll from the other man follows, but it only looks fond instead of annoyed.

“Good night, Richie. Until morning, then.”

“Until morning.”

Richie makes it to his room and as he closes the door behind him he lets out a long, heavy sigh. He’s afraid there is going to be one long, sleepless night ahead of him.

○-○-○

He must’ve fallen asleep at some point against all odds, however, because sometime that night Richie wakes up to his own screaming and with Eddie's name on his lips.

The room is dark, so dark, he can't see anything and he gropes around in the darkness in panic, and then he hears a door opening somewhere to his right and he whips around so fast he nearly falls off the bed, letting out a strangled, terrified sob. There is someone standing at the door but he can't see, though there is soft light coming in from the hallway. Everything is really blurry and Richie can't tell where he is and he is alone and... Eddie isn't here.

"Richie... _Richie_ , are you alright?"

  
  
It’s Eddie. It’s Eddie's voice, his Eddie, Eddie who is _living_ and _breathing_ and _not_ _dead_ like in his dream, that awful, awful dream, that... _nightmare_ , where he had just watched Eddie lie still on the cold rock of It’s lair and his eyes lose their light while he painfully choked to death, in Richie's arms, and he could do nothing to stop it, he could simply hold Eddie in his last moments and cry.

But that never really happened, no. Eddie is here and Eddie is _alive_ , and Richie lets out a relieved sob and holds out his hands and the blurry shape of his friend, his _love_ , makes its way to him in a couple of quick strides and then they are holding onto each other in the darkness of the room and Richie presses his face against Eddie's chest, just to feel and hear him breathing and his heart beating and Eddie simply holds him, strokes his hair, and whispers how everything is all right and how much he loves him.

  
  
They are both quite startled by Stan's quiet voice from the doorway and they hastily break apart in surprise. Richie can see Stan hovering uncertainly in the doorway, though it is very blurry. He tries to reach for his emergency glasses on the bedside table, fumbling and missing them, and so he doesn’t resist when Eddie picks them up instead and gently places them on his face. If Stan is surprised by the level of intimacy he sees between the two of them, he doesn't show it in any way. He only looks genuinely concerned, taking a careful step closer, making his way into the room, but only just.

  
  
"Nightmares?" he simply asks, sounding hesitant. Richie lets out a humorless little laugh.

  
  
"Yeah..." he mumbles. "I'm sorry for waking everyone up. Can't even shut the hell up in my sleep it seems."

  
  
"I have nightmares too, Richie, it's nothing to be ashamed of", says Stan, his voice a little less hesitant and a little more firm now. "I’ve had them all my life. Only I never remembered them when I woke up. Not until... Mike called. Now I do. I kind of wish I didn't, but I do. So you don’t need to be ashamed. You don’t know the amount of times I’ve woken Patty up during our years together.”

Richie lets out a deep, quivering sigh and rests his head back against Eddie’s warm, comforting chest, beyond caring about the fact that Stan can see, because he’s shaky and he just woke up from a nightmare vision that could’ve so easily been true but _luckily_ it wasn’t, and he needs to feel Eddie close, needs to hear his heart beating and his lungs breathing in air.

“What was your nightmare about?” Richie hears Eddie ask carefully, and Richie nearly presses his face harder against Eddie’s chest because Eddie is here, he really is, and he’s not dead. But he remembers Eddie’s injury and so he doesn’t do that. But he mumbles his answer against Eddie’s breastbone, quiet, although not quiet enough in the small room, and he knows both Eddie and Stan can hear his answer clear as day anyway.

“ _I_ _had a dream_ _where_ _you were dead.”_

Then he lifts his head from Eddie’s chest and rests it against his shoulder instead, squeezing his eyes shut tight before opening them again, and he sees Stan watching them from where he’s standing with an... _expression_ on his face, and Richie knows that look. It’s the same goddamn look Stan used to give him when they were children, whenever Richie came up with some kind of a bullshit story and Stan could tell immediately there was _no way_ it was actually true, or whenever Richie was being really obvious about something but tried to pretend otherwise. That’s the exact same look Stan is giving him, or rather the two of them, right now and Richie knows that _Stan knows_ about him and Eddie and what they really are to each other.

Because of course he knows. It’s Stan.

“It’s the same damn nightmare each time… only with some slight differences”, Richie continues tiredly, promptly ignoring Stan’s look, because nope, he’s not dealing with _that_ _._ “We’re down at the sewers. At _It’s lair_. I wake up after being caught in the Deadlights, only to see you lying there… And you are _dying._ ” He shuts his eyes again, trying to fight that awful vision he woke up from just a few moments ago.

“It’s… a bit different every time I dream about it, though. Sometimes you’re bleeding. You have… You have _lost your arm…_ ” he chokes out, because he can see it, in his mind’s eye, and that vision is horrifying and though he knows it’s not true, it doesn’t really make it any less horrible or any more bearable to think about. He can see the bloody stump and the broken pieces of shattered bone sticking out and the blood, _all that blood_ bleeding out of what’s left of Eddie’s poor arm in his mind’s eye, clear as day.

“There’s blood everywhere and you’re bleeding out and I can do _nothing._ And then… _Sometimes_ you have a gaping hole in your chest and you’re trying to speak but you can’t because all that’s coming out of your mouth is _blood_ and you’re choking on it and I… I-I…”

“Richie, none of that ever happened”, Eddie tells him fiercely, holding him tight, and Richie tries to focus on Eddie’s arms around him and his voice in his ears, but it’s hard. “I got hurt. I got hurt, but you carried me out of there and got me help and I am here. It’s not real.” Richie takes a deep breath, then another, and as he tries to regulate his breathing he feels the bed dip on the other side of him and then he feels Stan leaning against him and his hand landing reassuringly against his shoulder, rubbing small circles there, and when he opens his eyes which he had closed so tight moments before, he can see another new presence in the room as well.

Patty is standing in the doorway in her flowery night gown, holding a glass of water, looking at the three of them, all huddled together on the bed, before giving a small, gentle smile and making her way to them.

“I’m not exactly a huge expert on nightmares but I thought you might like some water, dear.”

She offers Richie the glass.

Eddie and Richie pull away from each other enough for Richie to accept the glass gratefully, and he downs it all in just a few gulps. His throat feels raw and sore from screaming in his dreams and the cold water feels soothing and so good.

“Thank you, Patty, you’re an angel”, Richie sighs, smiling shakily, giving her the glass back. Patty looks at him with an incredibly fond look and yep, in that moment Richie is even more certain that he really does like Patty Uris, a lot. “Stan’s one lucky man to have a gal like you looking after him.”

“Oh, stop it.” Patty giggles and then she touches Richie’s shoulder as well, the same shoulder Stan was just rubbing a while earlier, and squeezes it lightly. “You are very sweet though.”

Then she gives Stan a searching look and asks: “Did Stanley tell you he has nightmares as well?”

“He did…” Richie says. “I am sorry though. For waking you all up. I’m not usually this… loud.” He finishes lamely, but it’s true. He usually isn’t. All the other times he’s had these nightmares, he’s not been so loud, not since Eddie’s release from the Derry hospital, anyway. Not since... he started sleeping in the same room with him. Oh, _hell._ It makes sense then, doesn’t it?

“Don’t worry about it, Richie, seriously”, Stan tells him, gives him what is something between and hug and a squeeze, before getting up from the bed and fixing Richie with a look. “We’re all tired and so I’m not even trying to make you talk about these nightmares in depth now, but… I understand, Richie. I have seen the Deadlights, and I have my own nightmares and I do understand, perhaps better than you think. So if you ever feel like talking… Tomorrow, maybe, or _any_ time later… You can talk to me. Alright?”

“Alright.” Richie doesn’t have the heart to tell Stan that he’d rather do pretty much anything else than talk about his nightmares, with anyone, ever, so it’s easiest to simply agree.

“Good”, Stan says simply, putting his arm gently around his wife, and the two of them make their way to the door, where they stop to look back at them, both smiling softly, although Stan has that knowing look on his face again and Richie realizes that Eddie is making no move of leaving the room as well. He’s still sitting there, right next to Richie, just holding him loosely in his arms.

“If it’s alright with both of you, I’d like to sleep here with Richie for the rest of the night”, Eddie then surprises Richie and, by the looks of it, both Patty and Stan as well with his words. They’re both looking at them from the door with expressions which are… hard to decipher, exactly, and Richie himself is feeling like the air has been just punched out of his lungs.

Eddie just said that. He just said he was going to spend the rest of the night here, in this room, with only the one bed, with him, and even though he had kind of phrased his words like a question, it had not really been a question at all. Richie holds his breath not knowing what to expect, not really, though he _hopes_ , and then Patty speaks.

“Of course”, she says and her voice is gentle and calm. “Why wouldn't it be alright? Do you boys need anything else? Extra blankets? Pillows?”

‘ _Oh_ _wow_ _, w_ _ould you even offer us condoms if we asked for those?’_ Richie thinks slightly hysterically because no way is this conversation actually happening and this, the way Patty is acting so naturally about two grown men she barely even knows wanting to share a bed in their house, is real. But it is, it really is happening, and how is this his life? Richie feels lightheaded and weird and like he’s still partially dreaming and not awake at all. Also, he realizes once again how very much he likes Patty Uris.

“I can just go and grab my pillow and blanket from my room”, Eddie says, smiling politely, but then Stan has disappeared from the doorway and in the few seconds that he’s away Richie has time to slightly panic that maybe Stan isn’t okay with this thing with him and Eddie _after all._ But then he is already coming back, carrying the blanket and the pillow belonging to Eddie, as well as Eddie’s aspirator and glasses.

“Brought these too, just in case”, he says as he lays the aspirator and the glasses on the night stand, and then dumps the blanket and the pillow on the bed next to them. He gives them both one long, searching look and when Richie feels himself blush he’s very thankful of the dimness of the room and of the only light there coming from the hallway. He carefully glances at Eddie, and Eddie is answering Stan’s gaze looking so calm, so collected, and almost… dare Richie think… _protective?_ As if he’s daring Stan to say something about this, about Richie needing Eddie to be here with him, about them sharing the bed and sleeping here, together.

God, Richie is so happy to have Eddie with him and be brave when he himself can’t be. Richie wouldn’t have dared to voice his need for Eddie to stay, not in front of Stan and Patty, not ever. He would’ve just pretended to be strong and fine and suffered alone instead.

As it is, he just blinks tiredly, because he’s tired, so tired, and he leans his head against Eddie’s shoulder again, and when he opens his eyes again he seems Stan smiling fondly down at the two of them.

“You two really are something else, you always were. But I really do love you guys. A lot”, he says simply and then turns and makes his way to the door, to his waiting wife who is also smiling at them, and Richie feels his eyes stinging, but he blinks rapidly because he won’t cry, _he won’t,_ there’s nothing to cry about, everything is fine.

“Sleep well, boys”, Patty says and then she’s gone, and Stan just gives them one last look, before saying: “See you in the morning again, Richie, Eddie. Good night.”

“Good night, Stan”, they both answer in unison and then Stan is gone as well, having closed the door after himself and they are plunged into the darkness of the room.

Richie sighs and immediately takes his glasses off and rubs at his tired eyes. The tears he felt stinging in them are gone now, but he feels shaky and twitchy and very, very happy about the fact that Eddie is here with him.

That is, before Eddie asks him in a quiet yet disapproving voice: “Why didn’t you tell me you were having these kinds of nightmares, Richie?”

He should’ve seen this coming, he really should’ve. Of course Eddie wouldn’t just let him get away with not telling him, but Richie really doesn’t want to talk about this thing, ever, he doesn’t even want to _think_ about this thing, this whole nightmare business. It isn’t as if he’s never had nightmares before in his life, after all. Surely these nightmares will work out in the same way as the ones from before, before Derry, and just go away in time on their own. He does not want to think about them and he does not want to talk about them. They’re not real anyway. They’re just nightmares, they’re just dreams. Dreams can’t hurt him, not really. Right?

“They’re just nightmares”, he ends up telling Eddie as well, muttering the words softly against his throat, nuzzling against the warm skin there. He wraps his arms around Eddie’s waist, holding him close, where he belongs. “I’m sure they’ll go away. Didn’t want to worry you, Spaghetti.”

“Well, you did anyway, Richie”, Eddie says. “You’re having nightmares about _me_. And then you keep that to yourself. How do you think that makes me feel?”

Shit. Alright, Richie is a man enough to admit to himself that were their roles reversed, he would feel awful if Eddie tried to keep something like this from him. He hugs Eddie closer.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think”, he says.

“Clearly, but what else is new?” says Eddie back, dryly, but at the same time he digs his long, slender, gentle fingers in Richie’s hair and starts stroking and petting and that feels so good, so reassuring, and Richie knows that they will be fine. “We don’t need to talk about the nightmares now, Richie, I won’t pressure you. But we _will_ talk about them later. Promise me we will?”

“I promise, Eds. I do.” And this time he means it. He still doesn’t want to talk about the dreams, he never does… but he will, if it matters so much to Eddie.

“Alright.” Richie feels Eddie pressing a kiss to his hair and that little gentle gesture makes warmth bloom inside him and he chokes out a tiny little laugh and blurts out: “I can’t believe you just told Stan and Patty in no uncertain terms you’re going to share my bed for the rest of the night and then proceeded to have a staring contest with Stan the Man over it.”

Eddie lets out a noise that sounds awfully like a squeak and whacks at his arm, pulling away from him to stare him down, not that it makes any difference since it’s so dim in the room they can barely see anything anyway.

“I did not!” he whisper yells. “I just… I thought it was polite to let them know about switching rooms! And I did not have a staring contest with Stan. It’s his house. He could’ve said no and I would’ve listened.”

Richie guffaws at that and shakes his head, fondly, but then a huge yawn breaks his laughter. God, but they really should try and get back to sleep.

The awful nightmare visions have started to fade away by now and Eddie is here next to him so it will be okay to fall asleep this time, and it’s not like he ever has nightmares more than once per night anyway. And with Eddie next to him, it’s helped a lot already and he hasn’t had nightmares quite every night, even.

“Hmm… I still think you kind of asserted your dominance there, Eddie my love, but I will let you off the hook this time because I’m beat and I’d very much like to get some actually restful sleep tonight”, he mutters and then starts crawling clumsily back under the covers. Eddie makes some sputtering little noises but then gives up and Richie can feel him arranging his pillow and his own blanket and then there’s a familiar warm body lying next to him, as it should. Richie smiles into his pillow and reaches next to him, finding Eddie’s hand and tugs at it, gently.

“Cuddle with me”, he says softly, and that’s something he’s not asked of Eddie yet, not in the past two nights that they’ve slept together in one bed officially as a couple, though he has woken up in the mornings with the two of them cuddling each other. Because apparently even in their sleep the two of them seem to gravitate towards each other, not wanting to be too far apart, and Richie likes that. He likes waking up with Eddie so close to him, he loves the closeness, he loves Eddie’s warm touch and his breath against his neck and his arms around him, or his own arms around Eddie with his face pressed against those soft blond curls. But he has not dared to ask for it. Not before now.

Eddie lets Richie guide him and settles against his back, spooning him, just like he had that morning when Richie woke up to feeling his erection against his backside and ended up panicking about it. How stupid. How stupid, when they both love each other and now they are here, like this, sharing this kind of closeness so willingly and intentionally.

Richie leans back happily against Eddie’s chest, letting out a content little sigh and feeling his body relax entirely. Eddie wraps his arm around his waist and curls it against his stomach just like it had been that morning as well, and Richie feels Eddie’s warm breath against the back of his neck and then he also feels a soft little kiss being placed there.

“Is this good? Is this how you wanted it?” Eddie asks and Richie can hear the smile in his voice. He smiles as well.

“Yeah. This is good. _So good…_ ” he trails off, before continuing. He has promised himself he should try to be more honest about his feelings, after all. He won’t be repeating all the same mistakes with Eddie that he did in his failed past relationships, and maybe he can start with something small, like admitting this. “I never knew I like to be spooned so much. Before that morning. That was kind of like a… a revelation.” He chuckles quietly at his words, but it is the truth. “I mean, before I fully woke up and took in the situation and had time to really get myself into a panic about it and convince myself about how you wouldn’t want to wake up cuddled up with me like that and shit. But yeah. Before that I felt really good. I love it when you hold me. Makes me feel all special.”

Eddie giggles and tightens his arm around him a bit, and somehow manages to press even closer than he already was. Richie welcomes it gladly. He would let Eddie crawl under his skin if it was somehow possible.

“Oh well, then I guess I simply must do it, if it makes you feel all special”, Eddie mutters, sounding incredibly fond and then presses a kiss against his neck again, and another, and then one more for good measure. “I do love you, Richie. And I’m glad you asked. For this, I mean. For cuddles. I like to do things that make you happy. They make me happy, too.”

And there really is nothing that Richie can say to that, so he simply lets his hand rest against Eddie’s hand, laid there against his stomach, squeezing it gently, and in only a few moments he’s fast asleep and he doesn’t open his eyes again before the next morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please notice that I added a tag for _"making out"_ because of this chapter. Things gets a bit heated between Richie and Eddie I guess - but they don't actually do anything else than just kiss a bit and talk about wanting to have sex. Anyway, I thought I should mention that just in case. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter as well.

Richie wakes up a lot less violently this time, and a lot more pleasantly. What that means is that he wakes up to the feeling of Eddie’s fingers gently combing through his sleep mussed hair and Eddie’s warm breath tickling against his skin, and oh, there’s the slight scratch of his morning stubble against his skin as well and somehow that’s the thing that really seals the deal for him, because Richie really, _really_ has come to love the feeling of Eddie’s unshaven face in the mornings.

He couldn’t even tell why that is if anyone asked, because he doesn’t quite know himself – he just does. Maybe it’s because Eddie is usually always so groomed and neat and in the mornings he is not. And it’s Richie who gets to witness that, Richie, and nobody else.

He lets out a happy little sigh and stretches slowly, turning to lie on his back and Eddie moves to allow him to do so, and then Richie turns his head to the side and they are looking at each other, with the air of sleepiness still lingering around them, but it’s slowly fading away, being replaced with… something else. Richie opens his mouth to tell good morning but before he can do that, Eddie has suddenly moved closer and pressed his lips against his, and when Richie lets out a surprised little gasp Eddie clearly takes that as a sign to deepen the kiss, not that Richie minds at all.

In fact, he welcomes it wholeheartedly. He moans quietly against Eddie and invites his tongue into his mouth to play with his own, and Eddie does exactly that, eagerly if a bit clumsily and Richie loves that, god but he does. He moans into the kiss again when he feels Eddie’s hand start to travel along his torso, stroking through the fabric of his t-shirt, touching his sides, his chest, his stomach, before settling on his waist, just gently squeezing there. Richie lets his own hands wander a bit as well and then it’s Eddie’s turn to moan into _his_ mouth – and then he’s pressing his hips against Richie’s and he can feel himself starting to harden and _oh god_ , Eddie is hardening too, rapidly, and yeah, they need to stop, they can’t, no matter how terribly he wants to give Eddie whatever he needs.

“Eddie…” Richie gasps against his lips when they break the kiss and looks searchingly into his eyes. Those eyes look so dark and so wild, Eddie’s pupils blown all wide, and he’s panting against him like he’s run a marathon and his lips are swollen and wet from their kiss. God, how easy it would be to just continue what they’re doing and let whatever happens, happen.

But they shouldn’t. They’re at their friend’s house, not at some random motel, and the idea of either Patty or Stan changing the sheets after they’ve left and possibly finding any kind of evidence of something other than just sleeping completely mortifies Richie.

Eddie seems to share his feelings, however, because after only a few seconds of silence he says, quietly: “Sorry. I got a bit carried away. I know we can’t, really. Not here. It’d be… weird.” He looks sheepish now and almost ashamed and so when he tries to pull away from him, Richie doesn’t let him because no way should Eddie feel ashamed about his want, about his need. He presses his forehead against Eddie’s and lets his fingers sink into his messy blond curls and caress them gently.

“Hey now, none of that. I want you too, Eds, I do, nothing to be ashamed of. If we were at a motel somewhere and not under Stan and Patty’s roof, you better believe I would let you do _whatever_ you want with me, I’d be all yours, Spaghetti Man.” Eddie giggles softly at that and Richie smiles, because that’s what he wanted, for Eddie to smile, to laugh, to feel at ease. “But yeah, it does feel a bit weird. I really don’t want Stan involved in our sex life in any way, and that includes him changing the dirty sheets after us.”

“Oh hell, Richie, please stop. I really didn’t need to think about that!” Now Eddie is actually laughing properly, the faint giggles replaced by hearty chuckles and Richie bursts into a proper laughter as well, because the image he just conjured in his mind of Stan making a face at their sex rumpled sheets _is_ kind of hilarious.

After their laughter dies down Richie can’t help but give Eddie another kiss, however, sweet and lingering and with just a little bit of tongue and when they pull apart again, while Eddie doesn’t look as lost to want as he did a while ago, he still does look like he’d very much like to continue if they were anywhere else.

“Tonight, wherever we’ll stay the night, I’ll make it all up to you”, Richie murmurs. “I will treat you so good.” And oh but he means every word he’s saying, and he hopes he could treat Eddie so good right now, but it will have to wait. And he can do that, he can wait, because he’s a grown man and he knows how to be patient when he wants to.

It’s Eddie, however, who doesn’t seem to want to.

“Tonight!” he groans and there’s a whiny quality in his voice and well, this is… new.

Eddie tries not to complain about things – Richie knows that he’s almost constantly in pain because of his healing ribs and lung and yet he doesn’t complain about the pain at all, he simply bears it quietly, and Richie doesn’t fuss because he knows it’d only remind Eddie of his mother -, but he is certainly complaining now, about not being able to get his hands on him!

“That’s so many hours away and I really want you _now_ , Richie.”

And okay, that is so, so flattering and makes Richie feel lightheaded and excited. After that morning when they'd exchanged blowjobs for the first time, they’ve not had time to do much yet. There’s been another set of blowjobs and a very thorough handjob that Richie gave Eddie while rutting against him at the same time and then coming inside his boxer shorts like an actual teenager, because hell, that is how Eddie makes him feel like all the time, way younger than his years and with very little self control, it seems.

But a small part of him has been wondering a bit if he is maybe pushing Eddie somehow, if he wants Eddie more than Eddie does him, even if he seems very eager and wanting and Richie knows Eddie well enough to know that if he doesn’t feel okay with something Richie is doing, he’d certainly let him know. He always has. And Richie has made it very clear that they never need to do _anything_ Eddie doesn’t want, he has, but still, somehow, there has been the tiniest bit of fear inside him that _maybe_ Eddie is just humoring him, because… Well, because he isn’t exactly a catch. Forty years old, divorced five times, perhaps not ugly, but average looking at best. And meanwhile Eddie himself is gorgeous.

But apparently his gorgeous man can’t wait to get his hands on him and now that’s certainly a huge boost to his self-confidence.

“Well, if not tonight, what do you suggest then? I’m all ears”, Richie asks, curious.

Eddie looks at him searchingly, biting his lip. And then he says something that Richie Tozier might’ve expected of himself, maybe, but not of prim and proper Eddie Kaspbrak, no way.

“Well, there is always the car.”

And now _that_ is a thought! Richie’s eyes widen and he can’t fight the wide grin taking hold of his face.

“Are you trying to get us arrested for public indecency, Spaghetti Man? How _naughty_ of you - adventurous too. I didn’t know you crave danger that much, but I guess I could be persuaded.”

  
  
“Oh, I didn’t mean we’d do anything at like a... parking lot or anywhere in plain sight like that”, says Eddie, a bit flustered. “We couldn’t. Limousines have tinted windows but -”

  
  
“Edward Kaspbrak, you sly dog, you! ‘ _Limousines have tinted windows’_ , I can’t believe you!” Richie laughs, delighted. Eddie’s face falls, however, and he gives him a wary look.

  
  
“Please don't make fun of me, Richie”, he says and he sounds so serious and nearly defensive that Richie backtracks immediately. He was not trying to make fun of Eddie, oh no, he would never, but he has a big mouth, alright, and that mouth works faster than his brain pretty much always.

  
  
“I'm not, Eddie, I swear”, he is quick to assure. “I’m not making fun of this, or of you. I love this side of you, this new side I’ve not seen before and you know how I am with my jokes, but I am _not_ making fun of you. I’m excited. Of course I want to have car sex with you, I’d be a fool not to! Hell, I’d say yes to sex with you pretty much _anywhere,_ are you kidding me? I’m just surprised that you suggested it, although maybe I shouldn’t have been. You do love your cars.” He grins.

  
  
“Well, I’m not the one who chose to arrive to Derry driving a flashy sports car, but… yes, alright. And I also love you. Although why, I do wonder sometimes”, Eddie quips, but the look in his eyes is soft and the smile tells Richie all the rest.

  
  
“So... since we don’t have a limousine with those tinted windows and we have to settle for our boring old rental car... what _do_ you suggest then? Shall we take a scenery route somewhere, engage ourselves into a little romp surrounded by mother nature?”

  
  
“I was thinking about something like that, yeah”, Eddie says and his eyes are glinting and there’s excitement in his voice, excitement and... anticipation. It makes Richie’s heart ache, in a really good way. To think this man is his and his alone and wants him that much. How the hell did he ever get this lucky?

  
  
“Sounds good. Sounds great. We'll do that, then. I'm really looking forward to that, Eds.” And he pulls Eddie into a kiss again, a kiss with just a little bit of teeth and a little bit of tongue, and when they pull apart, panting, Richie can't help but chuckle at the forlorn look on Eddie’s handsome face, because he knows that’s all they will be doing while here and he needs to be patient.

Eddie sighs and then he simply just cuddles close to him, pressing his face against Richie’s neck, wrapping his arm loosely around his waist. Richie wraps his own arm around Eddie’s waist as well, rests his cheek against Eddie’s soft hair, and they lie there just like that, for a little while, letting themselves calm down. The house around them sounds quiet but it’s light enough outside for Stan and Patty to be up already, probably, Richie thinks. He can’t know for certain though. There’s a clock on the wall but without his glasses or contacts on he can’t see nothing but a blur.

“Did you have any more nightmares after we fell asleep again last night?” asks Eddie, his warm breath tickling his skin. Richie hums. He had not, the rest of his night had been entirely peaceful. He tells Eddie that.

“Good. I still wish you’d told me earlier, though.” Then he lets out a yawn and of course that only makes Richie yawn as well and Eddie giggles, muttering: “I guess we should get up. I think I heard Stan and Patty getting up a bit before you opened your eyes.”

“Yeah…” Richie agrees. “I guess we should.”

Richie showers first because it takes a lot less time for him to get ready than it does Eddie who is partial about his morning routine and doesn’t like it interrupted. That routine includes blow drying his hair after showering and Richie doesn’t argue because it means he can admire the result which is those bouncy soft curls he loves running his fingers through so much, making Eddie always blush faintly and giggle whenever he does that.

He gives Eddie a quick peck on the cheek before sending him off to shower after himself, and once he’s dressed and ready to face the day, he makes his way downstairs where he can hear Stan and Patty’s faint voices coming from the kitchen. There’s the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the air as well and Richie follows it, but he’s stopped short when he hears his name mentioned in their conversation.

He hesitates. Eavesdroppers never tend to hear anything good about themselves, in fact eavesdropping was exactly the way he found out about his wife number 3 having an affair with her co-star, but somehow he can’t stop himself from wanting to hear what is being said between Stan and Patty anyway. Maybe he’s going to regret it… but he can’t help himself. He stays quiet and listens in, just outside the doorway leading to the kitchen, just out of sight.

“- and they’re both so sweet, it makes me so happy you had friends like that when you were growing up”, Richie hears Patty saying, and… _oh._ That’s so lovely of her.

Stan is chuckling.

“Yeah, well, they have changed a bit since we were children, but mostly they seem to be the same. In all the ways that matter, anyway. They were good people then and they’re good people now. Ironic really, considering how Derry definitely wasn’t a good place to grow up in.”

‘ _Yeah, no kidding’,_ Richie thinks, but then Stanley speaks again and he focuses to listen some more.

“I missed them. Once I remembered them, I missed them a lot. And I was nervous when they called and I was nervous yesterday before they arrived but then all the tension went away so fast, it was almost like we’d never been apart. There were no secrets. Or so I thought.”

A little laugh follows his words.

“I was so happy for them because they seemed so happy, about going to LA together, living together there. I thought it was great Richie’d go to such lengths for Eddie but I also saw he was really doing it as much for himself as for him. And I felt happy because they are clearly so good for each other. You can _see_ that, how they both… I don’t know, kind of glow?

But I don’t get… I mean _clearly_ they are together _as lovers,_ and after what we witnessed last night there’s no doubt. In fact, I was half expecting them to ask for only one room when we told them they should stay for the night but then they didn’t and so I thought maybe I had misread it all. But it seems like they just… didn’t think they could tell us that about them. They wouldn't have. If Richie didn’t have his nightmare they would’ve just hid it away. Why didn’t they think they could tell us, tell me?”

Stan sounds confused and a bit hurt when he says that and Richie swallows hard. He feels stupid for ever doubting his friend but at the same time he knows that one can never be too careful about things like these. Liking men when you are a man yourself is far from acceptable. It’s always been easiest to hide it and now Richie doesn’t only have himself to think about but Eddie as well. If he endangers himself, he risks endangering Eddie too and that is something he always needs to consider.

Not that he ever really thought telling Stan and his wife would lead them to any kind of danger. But he had feared, though it makes him feel stupid now, that telling them might’ve made them see him and Eddie differently, and that was bad enough. That was a big enough reason not to tell in his opinion. Not to mention that they hadn’t discussed about telling Stan beforehand, and like Eddie himself had pointed out yesterday, this all was still very new between them.

Patty speaks again and Richie concentrates on listening once more. He wants to hear this. He _needs_ to hear this.

“Honey, you know why”, Patty says softly. “You do know. The world isn’t a kind place for certain kind of people. And you’ve said it yourself, that town you grew up in really wasn’t a great place, in so many ways, and I think that explains a lot as well, doesn’t it? But now that we know, what we can do is to show them that we don’t think any less of them because of that. That they can trust us not to judge.”

Stan sighs.

“As always, you’re right, love. I do know that. Shit. It can’t be easy for either one of them and here I am feeling sorry for myself because they didn’t feel comfortable enough to just… out themselves to someone they last met almost thirty years ago.”

“I am sure, however, that they would’ve told us eventually.” Patty’s voice is sure and gentle. “They used to be your closest friends back then. Something like that doesn’t ever really go away.”

“No. No, it really doesn’t.”

For a few seconds there is simply silence and the noises of cutlery clinking, and then Patty asking: “Oh look, is that the bird you told me about seeing yesterday? I don’t think I’ve seen that one before.”

And Richie takes the change of subject from Eddie and himself to something mundane like that as his clue to make his appearance.

“Is it fresh coffee that I smell? Don’t mind if I do”, he announces himself loudly and steps in through the doorway, taking in the scene of Stan and Patty sitting opposite of each other by the kitchen table, Stan with binoculars in hand, because of course. Some things never really changed, and Richie had noticed the elaborate, clearly self-made bird feeder sitting on their backyard yesterday and made a joke or two about Stan still liking his birds after all these years.

Both Stan and Patty offer him a good morning and a genuine smile and Richie’s heart feels really full. There are already plates and mugs set on the table for him and Eddie as well, he notices, and Patty gestures at them, saying: “Help yourself to some pancakes too, they’re still warm.”

“Thank you, Patty, you’re a doll”, Richie smiles and makes his way to the coffee machine, pouring himself a mug, then turning towards the pancakes, piling three on his plate immediately.

“Eddie will be down shortly as well, he’s still prettying himself up. Not that he needs it, of course, gorgeous as he is.” The words stumble out of his mouth on their own accord and as he says them, Richie feels a sense of relief over the fact that things like these are something he _can_ say about Eddie now, to his friends, his friends that won’t judge them because of who they are and who they love. Stan’s eyes crinkle as he smiles at Richie’s words and Patty looks so happy as well, her smile almost reaching from ear to ear or so it seems like to Richie. He makes his way to the table and sits down next to her.

“So you and Eddie, huh. Never would have thought that’d happen. A total surprise”, Stan then says, dryly. Patty gives her husband a look.

“Honey, be nice.”

“I’m just saying, love.” Stan directs his words to Richie next.

“You guys always had some kind of connection even as children, different than the rest of us. Of course none of us saw it quite that way when we were kids, I mean we barely even knew about stuff like that… But you did treat Eddie differently, even then. There was… something.”

Stanley looks at Richie, knowingly, like he’d looked at the two of them last night, when Richie knew that Stan definitely knew, and he can feel himself blushing but he answers Stan’s gaze anyway. Then he shrugs.

“I mean… I had a crush on him already when we were kids, yeah”, he then admits, like it’s no big deal, though it was very much a big deal for him as a child indeed, growing up in a place like Derry. He turns his attention towards his pancakes so he doesn’t need to look at Stan anymore and starts cutting them into mouthfuls. “Not that I would’ve even known what to do with a crush like that back then, I mean we were what, eleven, twelve? And even if I had known, Sonia would’ve definitely killed me if she ever found out. She probably wanted me dead anyway, I was always her least favorite.” He actually lets out a laugh when thinking about that.

“Who’s Sonia?” asks Patty, looking questioningly at Richie and Stan both. It’s Stan who answers.

“Eddie’s mom. She didn’t… Well, she didn’t really like any of us. She didn’t really like anything that kept her son away from home where he was safe and under her watchful eye, but she especially didn’t like any of us. Least of all Richie.”

“It was my own fault, really, after all I was always the loud and annoying one that kept roughhousing her son”, Richie grins, reliving some of the memories. Despite Sonia’s interference, he hadn’t been able to keep Richie away from Eddie, though, not really. “She didn’t remember me very fondly when we briefly met in New York a few days ago while getting Eddie’s things. Called me _“that horrible Tozier boy”_ , if memory serves me right.” He lets out a small laugh at that, because it was quite funny, to be called a horrible boy at the ripe old age of forty, even if the fact that the mother of someone he loves so much hates him with passion is a lot less amusing.

“She didn’t!” Patty gasps.

“Oh, she most definitely did. Not that it matters, though. I didn’t expect much else from her and neither did Eddie. He warned me beforehand. Besides, I’m taking her son away from her, all the way to California, so of course she wasn’t exactly jumping with joy.”

That’s the moment when Eddie makes his way to the kitchen, looking so good but also kind of nervous, which is made even clearer by the fact that he’s in fact clutching at his aspirator. Richie sees Eddie’s gaze flickering between all three of them and he gives him a reassuring smile, knowing Eddie must be feeling unsure about what exactly Stan and Patty are thinking about the two of them. He’s about to say something to ease the tension but Stan beats him to it.

“Good morning to you, Eddie. Also, I guess congratulations are in order as well, I think”, he says and offers Eddie a grin, letting his gaze travel knowingly between him and Richie. A small smile appears on Eddie’s lips, and Richie sees his grip on his aspirator loosening.

“I was actually just telling about Patty and Stan about my tearful reunion with your mother”, Richie says, completely ruining the mood, because of course. Eddie turns to give him a look.

“Richie, no.”

“What? There _were_ tears involved!”

“There sure were…” Eddie sighs, then turns his attention back to Stan and Patty. “Good morning. Also, thank you. That means a lot.”

“There are pancakes”, says Patty, beaming.

“Damn delicious pancakes as well”, Richie adds, because they are.

In no time at all they’re all sitting comfortably around the kitchen table and Eddie is digging into his pancakes and again Richie is hit with the same kind of feeling he did get hit by yesterday evening as well, of this all being disgustingly domestic and sweet, the way they’re all so at ease around each other, and how this is what he wants his life to be like from now on. Only now there’s also the added bonus of Richie feeling comfortable enough to try and play footsie with Eddie under the table and letting his gaze linger on him for longer than he maybe should, unafraid of the reactions they might get from their hosts, and that just makes everything even better. Eddie keeps glancing back at him with the tiniest smile on his lips and a little blush on his cheeks, and yes, Richie can tell Stan and Patty noticing, but they don’t make a big deal out of it, only giving them some fond looks of their own and his heart feels full and near bursting with happiness.

When they finally say their goodbyes a couple hours later there are lots of hugs and lots of laughter and some tears as well, but all of the happy variety, and a promise to definitely meet again soon, maybe with all the rest of the Losers there as well.

“You come and visit our place the next time”, Richie says, and it feels great to say it out loud, _our place,_ and even greater to see the way Eddie beams at his words and feel the way he leans against him. “You can stay for as long as you like. I’ll provide all the entertainment you could possibly need.”

“I’m sure”, Stan laughs and gives him one last hug, as strong and crushing as the one he gave him when they met yesterday. “We’ll miss you. Take care of each other, guys. And stay in touch.”

“We will”, Eddie murmurs when Stan pulls him into a hug next, and then they both embrace Patty as well and after one more round of goodbyes and well wishes – because it’s as if none of them are really feeling like they want to part just yet – they finally make their way to their waiting car. Richie turns on the engine and turns expectantly towards Eddie, raising his brow, smiling widely.

“Alright, Spaghetti. I remember _someone_ was talking _something_ about using the car for non-traveling purposes and I believe that someone was you. So, you’re calling the shots. Where to?”

Eddie just laughs and opens the glove compartment to pull out their road map. There’s a hint of a blush on his cheeks, though, and Richie can’t help but think _‘cute, cute, cute!’,_ but also _‘I can’t believe he’s all mine.’_

“Just start driving, Richie”, he says then, still smiling. “I’ll give you directions as needed.”

And Richie does.

**Author's Note:**

> Title of the fic comes from a song by Queen because that's exactly how "original" I am.
> 
> Please leave a kudos or even a comment if you enjoyed. They keep me inspired!


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